Reviews
Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities by Richard Baer
shannonjorgenfelt's review
3.0
While the story is pretty repetitive, and pretty hard to believe, it is definitely interesting. Baer is not the strongest writer, and his dry telling if the story is weirdly juxtaposed with the horrific - and seemingly pretty fantastical - accounts of religious ritual abuse. Not a great book per se, but worth reading, especially for those with an interest in psychology.
chelanna22's review
4.0
Very fascinating account of Karen's story. Although, if you are sensitive or easily affected or triggered by hearing of ritual, sexual, and physical abuse, I do not recommend reading this.
A part of me finds this hard to believe. The dialogue seemed unnatural at times and the way Holden organized the interrelation makes me a little skeptical.
I hope this is real though!
A part of me finds this hard to believe. The dialogue seemed unnatural at times and the way Holden organized the interrelation makes me a little skeptical.
I hope this is real though!
saltysiren's review
5.0
Honestly Doctor Baer may not be the most interesting writer, but this story alone is interesting enough. He went to school to be a doctor, not to write great novels.
That being said, I have dated someone with DID before and its intense, and they didn't go through nearly the trauma that Karen did. However, it is interesting to me to understand the treatment process and how each of this personalities worked within her. It really gave a greater understanding of how she functioned, or lack thereof I suppose.
This isn't "entertaining" unless mental health issues is something you're interested in. For me, I loved it. I understood his purpose and how it flowed and wasn't reading it for the purpose of being fun, but gaining insight.
That being said, I have dated someone with DID before and its intense, and they didn't go through nearly the trauma that Karen did. However, it is interesting to me to understand the treatment process and how each of this personalities worked within her. It really gave a greater understanding of how she functioned, or lack thereof I suppose.
This isn't "entertaining" unless mental health issues is something you're interested in. For me, I loved it. I understood his purpose and how it flowed and wasn't reading it for the purpose of being fun, but gaining insight.
tobyyy's review
1.0
Okay. This book made me angry. Very, very angry, and I think I have good reason for it.
(Also, DNF at about 70%.)
First off, treating a client who has DID is not "harrowing" for ANY therapist. If it's harrowing at all, it is for the client. Yes, I can see how it would be stressful for the clinician... but not harrowing. WTF, Baer? "Harrowing" to me implies that your life was in danger due to your client. It was not. Ever.
To me, Baer is a faker or a liar at best. According to this book, he had never dealt with a client with DID before, yet he managed to seamlessly help her integrate? LOL -- what a joke. Even clinicians experienced with complex trauma/DID work can't just "make" any multiple client integrate that simply or easily.
Also, he blamed Karen for the break-up of his marriage. Um... okay? So, Baer, you had NO part in your divorce? Yeah, okay, so the frequent midnight phone calls from Karen caused a problem between you and your wife... but that's not Karen's fault!! It's YOUR fault for not putting up appropriate boundaries.
Additionally, Baer made Karen sound like she was simple, like she couldn't do the easiest of tasks that singletons can do... when in reality -- okay, yes, sometimes people with DID get paralyzed by recurring memories, flashbacks (emotional or otherwise), body memories, etc. -- but there are a lot of multiples in high stress jobs, who are very successful. You would NEVER guess this, however, due to Baer's portrayal of Karen & co.
I talked with Jarrod about this book (which goes to show how angry it made me) and he suggested that maybe Baer's practice was failing if he is indeed as abysmal a clinician as this book makes him sound, and so he wrote a fictitious account of a client -- thus sensationalizing ritual abuse (RA), childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and DID. And as we all know, shit like that sells because people like reading about other people's misery. And with the profits from the book, Baer wouldn't have had to worry about his failing practice anymore. So because I was curious, I googled this guy, and it looks like he’s a real doctor... but he has the worst patient reviews I’ve ever seen. So maybe Jarrod’s suggestion is legitimate.
I think that's a little cruel, but honestly, this book was so unimpressive. In all of my classes, I've been taught that the clinician is not to be considered "the expert" and is not to expect to "fix" people. But in this book?.... yeah. Baer is totally tooting his own horn, saying-without-saying that he is a hero for helping this poor useless lump of a woman with DID when no one else could, blah blah blah...
Seriously. If people can't write actually realistic accounts of treating DID, and go to the lengths that Baer did to sensationalize it and make himself sound awesome...... then they shouldn't write at all. And in fact, shouldn't be practicing clinicians at all either.
In case this weren't abundantly clear by now (lol) --
DO NOT RECOMMEND.
(Also, DNF at about 70%.)
First off, treating a client who has DID is not "harrowing" for ANY therapist. If it's harrowing at all, it is for the client. Yes, I can see how it would be stressful for the clinician... but not harrowing. WTF, Baer? "Harrowing" to me implies that your life was in danger due to your client. It was not. Ever.
To me, Baer is a faker or a liar at best. According to this book, he had never dealt with a client with DID before, yet he managed to seamlessly help her integrate? LOL -- what a joke. Even clinicians experienced with complex trauma/DID work can't just "make" any multiple client integrate that simply or easily.
Also, he blamed Karen for the break-up of his marriage. Um... okay? So, Baer, you had NO part in your divorce? Yeah, okay, so the frequent midnight phone calls from Karen caused a problem between you and your wife... but that's not Karen's fault!! It's YOUR fault for not putting up appropriate boundaries.
Additionally, Baer made Karen sound like she was simple, like she couldn't do the easiest of tasks that singletons can do... when in reality -- okay, yes, sometimes people with DID get paralyzed by recurring memories, flashbacks (emotional or otherwise), body memories, etc. -- but there are a lot of multiples in high stress jobs, who are very successful. You would NEVER guess this, however, due to Baer's portrayal of Karen & co.
I talked with Jarrod about this book (which goes to show how angry it made me) and he suggested that maybe Baer's practice was failing if he is indeed as abysmal a clinician as this book makes him sound, and so he wrote a fictitious account of a client -- thus sensationalizing ritual abuse (RA), childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and DID. And as we all know, shit like that sells because people like reading about other people's misery. And with the profits from the book, Baer wouldn't have had to worry about his failing practice anymore. So because I was curious, I googled this guy, and it looks like he’s a real doctor... but he has the worst patient reviews I’ve ever seen. So maybe Jarrod’s suggestion is legitimate.
I think that's a little cruel, but honestly, this book was so unimpressive. In all of my classes, I've been taught that the clinician is not to be considered "the expert" and is not to expect to "fix" people. But in this book?.... yeah. Baer is totally tooting his own horn, saying-without-saying that he is a hero for helping this poor useless lump of a woman with DID when no one else could, blah blah blah...
Seriously. If people can't write actually realistic accounts of treating DID, and go to the lengths that Baer did to sensationalize it and make himself sound awesome...... then they shouldn't write at all. And in fact, shouldn't be practicing clinicians at all either.
In case this weren't abundantly clear by now (lol) --
DO NOT RECOMMEND.
martasbooktherapy's review
4.0
I am a mental health therapist who specializes in childhood trauma. This book was difficult for even me to read. It is beautifully written & captures the therapeutic alliance well. The descriptions of severe & ritualistic trauma may be hard for many readers but it's my hope others will realize the lifelong implications of early trauma as well as the potential for healing.
bookowl's review
3.0
This book was pretty intense. It was condensed from years and years of therapy, and I would have been interested to read even more in-depth.
bibliophile_booklover's review
5.0
This book was good but it was tough to read b/c of the content. i felt so pissed of with what karen had to go through. i hope people who did this to her who are still alive have read this book. i want them to ask for forgiveness what they did. personally i shouldn't say this but they deserve to rot in HELL
wmatamoros's review
1.0
This started out intriguing enough, but pretty quickly just kept repeating and repeating. If all of this is true, it's nuts and fascinating. It's pretty amazing that someones mind can protect themselves from trauma this way, but I feel like the way Karens story is told doesn't do it justice.
bcca's review
4.0
Not for the faint of heart. Extremely fascinating but incredibly sensitive subject matter. It's so amazing how the brain protects itself but so sad when it needs to protect itself due to horrid circumstances.
kilosmom7's review
5.0
I have been dying to write this review.
I was curious at first to see the way MPD/DID would be described in this book. And I WAS BLOWN AWAY.
the several personalities were distinct and i grew to love them as characters in Karen's story.
reading about how fragmented and desperate this woman was to be put back together was heartbreaking. Karen had no idea how many years she had lost, and for someone like me who has had no experience with DID this was so interesting to visualize Karen's mental home and all of her coping mechanisms.
this was a longer read than i had planned but the content was kind of confusing if you didn't get all the parts in order.
the integration section was my favorite. I was proud of Karen and her alters for finding the strength to come together to become a whole. Giving up the freedoms and tasks they had been dictating for Karen's whole life for the better of the whole system.
MUST READ for those interested in MPD/DID
I was curious at first to see the way MPD/DID would be described in this book. And I WAS BLOWN AWAY.
the several personalities were distinct and i grew to love them as characters in Karen's story.
reading about how fragmented and desperate this woman was to be put back together was heartbreaking. Karen had no idea how many years she had lost, and for someone like me who has had no experience with DID this was so interesting to visualize Karen's mental home and all of her coping mechanisms.
this was a longer read than i had planned but the content was kind of confusing if you didn't get all the parts in order.
the integration section was my favorite. I was proud of Karen and her alters for finding the strength to come together to become a whole. Giving up the freedoms and tasks they had been dictating for Karen's whole life for the better of the whole system.
MUST READ for those interested in MPD/DID